Steam-boiler connection



Jan 6, 1931. w. A. JONES STEAM BOILER CONNECTION Filed June 23, 1923INVENTOR.

I I n Edam ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES PATIENT orrica WILLIAM A. J' ONES,OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'IO THE BABCOCK & WILCOXCOMPANY, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEYSTEAM-BOILER CONNECTION Application filed June 23,

My invention more'particularly relates to a steam boiler particularladapted to high pressures in which the tubes are connected to a drum insuch a way as to produce a high ligament efliciency in the drum and inwhich the drum may be seamless to obtain the best efiects from thisincreased ligament strength.

My invention'will best'be understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawing in which I have illustrated one form of my invention, and inwhich Figure 1 is a sectional plan view taken along the line 11 of Fig..2, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through Fig. 1.

Like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the drawing.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, 10 indicates generallythe setting for a steam boiler, which has a transverse upper steam andwater drum 11, which, in the form shown, is made of seamless steel withthe ends drawn together to avoid the use of a riveted head. The usualmanhole and cover therefor will be provided at each end of the drum.Inclined Water tubes 12 connect Water chambers, which, in theillustrative embodiment, are downtake and uptake water chambers orheaders 13 and 14:, respectively. It will of course be understood thatmy invention is equally applicable to a construction wherein a commonwater chamber or header is used at each end of the inclined water tubes,for the claims are intended to cover such a construction. The headers 13and 14 are connected to the steam and water drum by rows of circulatingtubes 15 and 16, respectively, the portions of the tubes connected tothe headers being'parallel and lying in a plane passing through the axisof the drum. While I have illustrated the portions of such tubes whichlie in a common plane as being perpendicular to the axis of the drum, itwill be understood that my invention would be equally applicable if theplane including such portions of the tubes, while cutting the drum, didnot pass through the drum axis. WVhen in the claims, therefore, I referto portions of tubes lying in a common plane as perpendicular to theaxis of the drum, it will be understood that such 50 claims cover anarrangement where such 1923. Serial No. 647,320.

plane, While cutting the drum, does not pass through the axis thereofand the tube portions lying in such plane are not strictly perpendicularto the drum axis. The ends of some or all'of the tubes entering the drumare bent to increase the ligament efiiciency 'of the drum. In the formillustrated, the ends of all of thetubes entering thedrum are bent, thetubes being divided, with the exception of the last tube of the row,into groups of two, which are bent away from the plane of the row inopposite directions, to enter openings arranged on opposite sides ofsaid-plane, and 1n the same drum circumference, the openings forming aplurality of rows longitudinally of the drum. The ends of the tubes arealso preferably 'bent so as to enter the tube sheet radially of thedrum, as best shown in Fig. 2. The ends of the row of tubes 15 arepreferably similarly bent and similarly arranged. The "tubes enter thesteam and water drum in circumferential rows that are twiceas far apartas the horizontal distances between the centers. of the tubes where theyenter the' headers, thereby providing a much higher efiicieucy for theligaments between the tube holes in the drum, than if the tubes enteredthe steam and Water drum in the usual-manner at the same distancesapart-as where they enter the headers. By using the describedarrangement the tube holes may be brou ht considerably nearer togetherin a circum erential direction thau'would be the case if the tubes weremade to enter the drum in a staggered arrangement. Thi'sis an advantagein the case of the horizontal circulating tubes which connect the uptakeends of the headers to the steam and water drum, because the tubesshould be connected to the drum at as near the same level as possible inorder to avoid an undue amount of change in the resistance tocirculation of one header'and the other. It is also an advantage tobring the nipples, which connect the steam and water drum to the top ofthe downtake headers, as near together as possible to avoid an undueamount of cross strain in these nipples and at their expanded ends dueto the weight of the boiler. 7

By my invention the tube openings in the group bent drum are distributedso as to greatly increase thestrength of the drum over that obtainedwhen all of the tube h'o'lesare in the same line, as in the usualconstruction. In the ease-of a drum having a longitudinal seam wayproposed is therefore particularly advantageous where the drum is ofseamless con struction. .-When this 'arran ement. is com- .bined with aseamless steel rum with integral heads, the maximum efieet is obtained.In such a combination, very heavy pressures will be withstood, becausethe gain in strength by the use of such a seamless drum with integralheads is not neutralized by ligament weakness at the line of tube holes.

While I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it isto be understood that numerous changes could be made which would fallwithin the spirit and scope of my invention. For example, the bending ofthe ends of the tubes longitudinally of the axis of the drum, may beomitted and there still will be some increase in ligament efliciencyover the usual construction. The tubes may also be arranged so that someare straight and others are bent, insteadof bending all-of the tubes, asillustrated. Again, the ligament efficiency could be increased over theusual arrangement, where the tubes of a given row enter the drum in asingle row, by arranging the tubes in groups of three adjacent tubes,the middle one of which is straight throughout its length and the othertwo tubes of the away from the plane of the row of tubes in oppositedirections, so that the tubes of the entire row would enter the drum inthree longitudinal rows of openings. With this arrangement, the openingsby which the tubes enter the drum are successively offset from each aother circumferentially. of the drum, as is the case with the otherdescribed forms.

n, will also be understood that, .while I,

have, for purposes of illustration, shown the greater ortion of thetubes-16 as in the same plane, t is is not essential,'since theadvantages of my invention may be obtained if the main portion of thetubes are somewhat out of a comnion plane. For instance, with theconnections between the tubes and the water. chamber 14 in substantiallythe same horizontal plane, each tube may extend in a straight linetoward its opening in the drum 11, with the end bent if necessary, tomake it enter the drum radially. Since the tube openings in the drumare'arranged in a plurality of lon-; gltudinalrows, the main portion ofthe tubes in this construction-would not lie in a common plane althoughapproximating to a common plane.

I claim? In a steam boiler, a drum, and a row of tubes spaced a art fromeach other and having portions common plane and perpendicular to theaxis of the drum and divided into a plurality of groups, the tubesofeach group being bent at their ends out of the plane of said row toenter the drum radially through openlngs 1n the same drum circumference.2 111 a steam boiler having horizontally nclined water tubes connectedto water chambers at' either end, a horizontal steam and water drum,tubes connecting said water chambers withsaid drum, the last named tubesconnected to voneof said water chambers being substantially uniformlyspaced Where they enter said chamber, and said last-named tubes enteringthe drum in'cir cumferential rows that are twice as far apart as thehorizontal distances between the centers of such tubes where they enterthe waterchamber.

3. A steam boiler comprising a steam and water drum, water chambers andwater tubes connected to said Water chambers, tubes connecting saidwater chambers to said drum, thelast named tubes connected to one ofsaid. water chambers being substantially uniformly spaced where theyenter said chamber, and said last-named tubes entering the drum incircun lferential rows that are twice as far apart as the horizontaldistances" between the centers of said tubes where they enter the waterchamber.

4. In-a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending longitudinally with respectto the axis 'of said drum, the tubes in said row having portions lyingsubstantially in a common plane and pairs of adjacent tubes in the rowbeing bent at their ends to enter the drum in two longitudinal lines,each pair entering the drum through openings in substantially the samedrum circumference so as to give double the distance between the centersof the'tube holes in the longitudinal direction of the drum that wouldexist if the tubes entered the drum 1n a single longitudinal line, thestrength of all remaining portions of said drum bemg at least as greatas that between the tubes of said'row.

5. In a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending longitudlnally'wlth respectto the axis of said drum, the tubes in said row having portions lyingsubstantially in a common plane and the tubes in said row being dividedinto a ying substantially in a l plurality of groups, the tubes in eachgroup being bent at their ends to enter the drum through openings insubstantially the same drum circumference, and the remaining tubesentering the drum through openings spaced to give a ligament stren h atleast as great as the ligament strength tween the openings for said rowof tubes.

6. In a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending longitudinally with respectto the axis of said drum, the tubes in said row having portions lyingsubstantially in a common plane and the tubes in said row being dividedinto a plurality of groups, the drum being provided with groups ofopenings in which the ends of the tubes of the respective groups aresecured, at least one of the tubes of each of said groups being bent atits end to enter the drum through an opening in the drum circumferencein a plane perpendicular to the axis ofgthe drum and which plane passesthrough the opening for another tube of the group, and the remainingtubes entering the drum through openings spaced to give a ligamentstrength at least as great as the ligament strength between the openingsfor said row of tubes.

7. In a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending longitudinally with respectto the axis of the drum, the tubes in said row being parallel to eachother and substantially uniformly spaced apart for the major portion oftheir lengths, the tubes in said row entering the drum incircumferential rows that are twice as far apart as the center distancesof the major portions of the lengths of the tubes, and the remainingtubes entering the drum through openings spaced to give a ligamentstrength at least as great as the ligament strength between the-openingsfor said row of tubes.

8. In a steam boiler, a drum and a row of tubes spaced'apart from eachother and having portions lying substantially in a common plane anddivided into a plurality of groups, the drum being provided with groupsof openings in which the ends of the tubes of the respective groups aresecured, at least one of the tubes of each group being bent at its endout of said plane to enter the drum through an opening in the drumcircumference in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the drum and whichplane passes through the opening for another tube of the given group. I

9. In a steam boiler, a drum and a row of tubes spaced apart from eachother and having portions lying substantially in a common plane parallelto theaxis of the drum and divided into a plurahty of groups, the tubesof each group being bent at thelr ends to enter the drum throughopenings in the same drum circumference.

10. In a steam boiler, a drum and a row of parallel tubes lying in aplane parallel to the axis of said drum and cutting the drum, the tubesbeing divided into groupsentering the drum by openings arranged onopposite sides of said plane and in the same drum circumference.

11. I11 a boiler having horizontally inclined water tubes connected towater chambers at either end, a steel steam and water drum having aseamless shell, and a row of tubes connecting the water chambers at oneend with said drum, the tubes of said row having portions lyingsubstantially in a co1nmon plane parallel to the axis of the drum anddivided into a )lurality of groups, the tubes of each group )eing bentat their ends to enter the drum radially through openings in the samedrum circumference.

12. In a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending parallel to the drum axis,the tubes in said row havingportions lying substantially in a commonplane and pairs of adjacent tubes in the row being bent at their ends toenter the drum in two longitudinal lines, each pair entering the drumthrough openings in substantially the same drum circumference so as togive double the distance between the centers of the tube holes in thelongitudinal direction of the drum that would exist if the tubes enteredthe drum in a single longitudinal line.

13. In a steam boiler, a drum and tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row extending parallel to the drum axis,the tubes in said row having portions lying substantially in a commonplane and the tubes in said row being divided into a plurality ofgroups, the tubes in each group being bent at their ends to enter thedrum through openings in substantially the same drum circumference.

14. In a steam boiler, a drum and, tubes connected to said drum, some ofsaid tubes being arranged in a row, the tubes in said row havingportions lying substantially in a common plane extending longitudinallyof the drum and cutting the same and the tubes in said row being dividedinto pairs entering the drum by openings arranged on opposite sides ofsaid plane and in the same drum circumference. 4

WILLIAM A. JONES.

